One of the most enjoyable aspects of teaching The Making Lessons is knowing that they are making a difference for parent & professional teachers all over the world.
It feels great to hear back from happy students who have not only enjoyed the course themselves but have immediately started using what they’ve learned to teach happy children.
When I set out to create this course,my main focus was on teaching “teachers” how to inspire children to explore handwork.
What I hadn’t expected, was to hear that they are using The Making Lessons to plan & create lessons in ALL of the subjects!
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Here is what former students have to say about
The Making Lessons.
Kelly Kasper – Homeschooling Mother
Q. What was the one thing that made you pause & think before you decided
to join the course?
A. I hesitated about taking the course, because I truly thought it was going to be one more “this is it! I now know how to plan” kind of course – which I would have had to add to the other seven I think I have taken.
Q. How did you feel once you started the course ? During the course?
A. Once I started the course, I knew this was going to be different.
From the beginning, I was pulled in.
I felt like everything I had been dabbling in and trying to understand about handwork/homeschool planning/how to bring it/organizing, was slowly being knitted together with me.
I have every Waldorf book, blog, website, Waldorf school for a short time, a crafting mom, and an abundance of different homeschool curriculums, but it was like “paralysis by analysis”. Not to forget, all of the daily distractions. I was coming to the conclusion that by the time I figured it all out, my kids would be in college. And ironically, I am actually very organized, but when it comes to information-I need it all and I need to make sense of it.
Q. What specific thing did you like the MOST about The Making Lessons ?
A. How beautifully organized and inspiring the whole lesson plan is, and how truly easy it has been made to be followed step by step to achieve success.
And, I really feel secure in my reasons why, I too, feel that handwork and the ability for children to learn how to create with their hands, is the single most important thing you can give a child.
It will carry with them, forever. Ironically, my mom is an amazing crafter, and I learned the basics, but when she saw the course material I had printed out-she was truly inspired and amazed by how well put together the course looked. She headed to New Jersey with a bag of handwork for my nieces who are 5 and 8. But before we left her home from our visit, my youngest sewed a gift for me on her sewing machine.
Q. What two other ideas or methods which you learned during the course that will influence how you teach handwork to your children?
A. I really liked (when you showed) how all of those great pinterest ideas that I have could be organized. It seems like there is so much, but you just have to pick one, plan it and start.
I also liked the advice about it being okay to stop a project.
Q. Would you recommend The Making Lessons? If so, why?
A. I would! I would! Three reasons.
First, the explanation that Elizabeth shares about the importance of handwork-spiritually, mentally and physically, along with her chart of what a child can do at each age.
Second, because of how well her planner walks you through your school year, whether it starts in March or September, and integrates EVERYTHING you may have thought of but didn’t have the time to develop your own planner.
Third, if I would have had this course first, I could have saved myself a lot of internet searching and money on books that just didn’t make it happen for me.
Q. Is there anything you’d like to add ?
A. Since this course, my stress level has gone down and my knitting and handwork time has increased at least 50%.
I am now, 100% committed to our morning ritual, which I had been trying for a year to create for my kids & I, but just didn’t feel it.
Here is how our homeschool day starts now: we gather together on the floor with a tray that has a candle, my poem book, the book we are enjoying out loud, our flute/recorders, song sheets on it (stacked neatly so it is restful to look at) and our knitting basket right next to it.
We begin with lighting the candle, our family poem, weekly poem, singing, recorder/flute, and then the boys start knitting while I read “Dr. Doolittle” ( book for now).
We love this, and I have two sporty/energetic boys who are 8 and 11, and this is truly a favorite time of the day and a beautiful way to start. Also, I keep these items in a basket right in our main living area, and they have been reaching for their knitting on their own! So have I!
Keri M. – Kindergarten Teacher
I really enjoyed all of the wonderful ideas. I have some weaving in my class, but have not branched out too much from that.
We did a teacher show & tell so the kids could get to know more about each of us before they shared about themselves.
I was amazed at how many questions the kids had & how interested they were in my crochet work. I brought in a scarf I had been working on & they were so fascinated by how the yarn moved & worked on the hook. Each child wanted to watch me do a few stitches & even the children with shorter attention spans were enthralled with feeling & touching it.
I now can see how to use their sparked interest (for handwork) in my class.
Kerry Hayward – Homeschooling Mother
Q. Which lesson was your favourite & why?
A. This is really hard, for I did enjoy the course very much. I found the scope/sequence from
Lesson 2 very stretching. I have only been homeschooling for a few months, but had never seen the planning put out in that way before. It will change the way I plan things and I have already seen an improvement in the way I see the big picture of what I am trying to accomplish.
I also loved the lesson where you broke down your son’s Celtic Pouch project and how all the components fit together. I could listen to that lesson often.
And the lesson where I listed all the skills I had made me see I did have some strengths I did not consider.
One of the most helpful things was explaining how long a child needs to practice, only 10 minutes a day!
This was a great class and was so much more than I expected. I liked the combination of reading, pdfs, and listening.
Samantha Mar – Homeschooling Mother
Q. What was the one thing that made you pause& think before you decided to join the course?
A. Limited time. How much time would it take on a weekly basis? Would I be wasting my time?
(I hadn’t heard of you when I signed up.) What if there are weekly handwork assignments and I can’t keep up with them?
Q. How did you feel once you started the course ? During the course?
A. I was relieved…so relieved when I realized that I wouldn’t waste my time right from the first lesson, Why Handwork Matters. I appreciated your engaging my brain before my heart.
After you convinced my brain that handwork is worthwhile, my heart, as a student, was all yours.
During the course, I felt gratitude because I could see the depth of your knowledge and love for handwork. I was privileged to be a recipient of what you shared so generously.
Q. What specific thing did you like the MOST about The Making Lessons ?
A. Only one?!
All the charts and ways to put on paper the planning process. Without that, I would have been overwhelmed about how to present this to my children. With the forms, I could take what was swirling around in my mind and put it outside of me. Taking the ideas out of my mind made it possible to visually see what was all jumbled together, to rearrange things around and evaluate whether or not I really wanted to do something.
Q. What two other ideas or methods which you learned during the course that will influence how you teach handwork to your children?
A. Daily handwork: Who can argue with daily neurological development that’s fun?
I also liked including the whole family in the year-long project. The idea of a project that could summarize and represent a particular grade was new to me.
Q. Would you recommend The Making Lessons? Why?
A. Oh my gosh, YES! The Making Lesson feed me on so many levels.
This course convinced me of the importance and need for handwork. That is what motivates me to keep on trying to teach handwork to my children. The many forms for planning offered made it so much easier to conceive my lessons. The lists of basic supplies, and what’s not necessary to have, saved me a lot of running around time.
The meat of the course: How to Prepare and How to Teach Handwork Lessons alone were worth the price of the course. I didn’t have to re-invent the wheel in how to present this to my children as lessons. I was saved the hassle and frustration of figuring out how to teach a subject I don’t know. The hints offered obviously came from many years of teaching handwork.
Q. Is there anything you’d like to add?
A. I signed up for this course to be a better teacher for my kids. The course ended up nourishing me!
Elizabeth engaged my intellect, heart and soul. What more could I want from a teacher?! I’m looking forward to taking more classes from Elizabeth. Even if I already know the subject matter of a course, I’ll take her class anyway because she can relate handwork to academic work and neurological development.
I get inspired when interacting with someone who is so knowledgeable, thorough and generous.
Thanks for such a rich, fulfilling course, Elizabeth.
Betty Cupstid – Kindergarten Teacher
Q. What was the one thing that made you pause & think before you decided to join the course?
The one thing that made me pause and think before joining this course was it sounded pretty hard. Could I really make it work with all of the pressures of meeting the common core standards in my kindergarten classroom of 14 children, who are seven girls and seven boys?
A. How did you feel once you started the course ? During the course?
When I first started the course I was so ready to embark on this new project and then came the feeling that it was going to be a lot of work getting all the materials together to make it work and how would I ever get the kids involved. Well……….as I got into the course I realized that all those basic materials I had been collecting in my closets over the years were about to see the light of day. Buttons, yarns, ribbons, ric rac etc. – it was all there!
It is a great feeling at the end of the day to see our carpool line waiting for their children and we are not even ready to go home yet.
Q. What specific thing did you like the MOST about The Making Lessons ?
A. I have always loved crafts and working with fibre.
I found the way that you presented each of the 7 lessons in smaller sections during the summer prevented me from becoming overwhelmed with all the awesome information.
Q. What two other ideas or methods which you learned during the course that will influence how you teach handwork to your children.
A. In Lesson 6, it all became clear as how to successfully teach a Handwork Lesson.
My boys are loving the idea that they can sew their own little felt shoulder bag to collect treasures as we walk along “The Cottonwood Trail” which is a city green space that we can easily access just down the street from our school in Spartanburg, SC.
I learned that children really are capable of ‘constructing their own learning and that there really is an endless amount of different ways of thinking, discovering and learning.
Q. Would you recommend The Making Lessons? If so, why?
A. Most definitely!!
I think it is so exciting seeing the eagerness each morning as my day begins with the children because they are ready to begin creating their “Handwork”. They love making things and have truly loved the process of engaging their heads, hearts and hands.
Who knew…….But I have really made it work!!! There are 20 teachers on our staff and we are certainly looking at more of your future courses.
Q. Is there anything you’d like to add ?
A. I love “The Magic of Teaching” and “The Wonder of Learning” inspiration you have given me. Getting your Celtic Pouch done is a goal of mine and I’m hoping I can round up some Grandparents to come in to help with this project.
Gabriella V. – Homeschooling Mother
Absolutely excellent!
As a mom of a child with special needs, this idea of handwork has always made me feel as though it were unapproachable. But, Elizabeth reinforced the fact that there are things we can do to introduce the children to handwork by exploring the materials & tools first.
When I knit, I notice that my son gets closer, giggles a little & then is on his way. He has started to understand that it is something I like to do. I found it interesting that Elizabeth stated that children sense our energy & joy while doing handwork. I can appreciate that!
I like that it’s OK to have children observe us with handwork & not necessarily expect them to have to do it right away, Waiting for the interest is quite reassuring as sometimes I tend to wonder if he’s learning anything by just observing me.
Hillary Jesse – Homeschooling Mother
Q. Which lesson was your favourite & why?
A. The handwork skills & benefits lesson, because it broke down this amorphous concept of “… HANDwork…” (cue mysterious/ominous music) into doable, realistic bits.
I could see clearly HOW children progress from banging pots to knitting scarves, and so it wasn’t overwhelming. Although I’d say Lesson 6 on planning was a *very* close second, because I really appreciated the step-by-step HOW-to-do-it and your teaching experience, if the class had stopped with the Skills lesson, I would have been in a good position to move forward.
I also found that at first, because I don’t teach Waldorf, it was hard for me to fill out the planning sheets, but as we progressed through the lessons and got to the skills breakdowns, I could easily plan projects that accomplished teaching those skills and matched my curriculum.
I really enjoyed the course! I hope that comes through, too! I feel much more confident about teaching handwork and melding it with our daily lessons. Thank you for teaching us!
Pamela Bird Yeater – Homeschooling Mother
Dear Elizabeth
Perhaps you’ll understand the feelings that were rushing upon me this morning after spending a few moments on your blog & signing up for your class. I have been soaring & singing today because your class & your life just touched a deep desire in my heart, reawakening a dream that I’ve held for some time.
I am a Waldorf-inspired homeschooling mother of 2 beautiful children. My daughter is nearly 7 & my son is nearly 4. We’ll be beginning 1st grade & an early Kindergarten year in the Fall.
I’m so excited to have made a connection with you & look forward to talking more about France & all the wonderful handwork you will share. Handwork is one of the elements of Waldorf which I have truly loved. I’m a complete novice but have really enjoyed using all of the natural materials & creating handwork.
Shaun G – Kindergarten Teacher
Thank you, Elizabeth!! (You have given me) so many magical ideas! You really pointed out how important handwork is & how many benefits it has. I am teaching Kindergarten for the first time this year & I am thrilled to have all of these new ideas!
I really appreciated how you put the types of handwork into categories & discussed the skills that help build up to them.